Photo TR: Tom's North American Adventure!

[bgwfreak]

I wanted to do Idlewild last month, but I was so tired from my midwest trip that I didn't add it on.

 

Now I wish I had I guess. But I'll get there someday and do the lopsided Vekoma mouse!

[cfc]

Looks like you made an excellent tour for yourself, Tom--thanks for the TR.

[Homer]

Had to settle for second best... cheapskate.

 

Great Idlewild TR, although the world's smallest bench award belongs to this bench my grandfather made for me when I was little.

[Shockwave]

Lovin this TR still Tom........awesomeness!

 

Looks like you made an excellent tour for yourself, Tom--thanks for the TR.

 

Thanks! It's hard work going back through all the photos to put them up, I imagine this is how Robb feels when he's doing his updates!

 

I'm only a third of the way through this TR so far, but I've given myself a target date of August 1st to finish it by, before the MidWest trip begins in full.

 

So after I finished Idlewild by 1pm, it was time to head back over to Chicago to pick up Ian, for the main bulk of the trip. Now I wasn't stupid enough to drive from Western Penn. to Chicago in half a day, so I split the drive up into two halves, both of which are included in the next part of the report.

 

So I would be stopping about halfway along the route that night, and drive the other half the next day. And of course, there would be a park to hit on the way.

 

Which one? Well scroll down and find out.

 

Part 5b - The drive back to Chicago, plus a bonus park!

Meanwhile, Ian is still flying over Greenland. And the next part of the trip report will commence very soon...

And this is what I see from a rest area along the way to the Airport. The funny thing is that I bet someone out there in the land of the free has done this!

Now it's the Tuesday after Memorial Day, and this is what Ian sees from 35,000 feet up.

Millennium Force is a pretty good ride. It's not horrendously over-rated, but it is over-rated. Still, it had some great speed and a great first drop. Not a bad way to end the night.

And then took this photo. This Intamin will have to do!

Maverick had broken down, and had a ridiculous line anyway. So I took this photo as I was passing...

Dragster really shafted my best laid plans. But as it turned out, it really made no difference.

But I stuck it out, and after a 2-hour wait I got my ride in. Certainly wouldn't wait that long again though.

This pretty much sums up my first impression.

Or it would have been if the ride hadn't broken down when I was 10 mins from getting on!

And then it was time for the big one...

Suspended vertical spike goodness for everyone!

And there are still more Intamins to get! Wicked Twister is my first Impulse, and I rather liked it.

No nut-busting Giant Frisbee today. This is an Intamin Run!

Next Intamin - Disaster Transport! And actually it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Going down...

Demon Drop of course! No pennies for Joey on this one though.

Yes, it's Cedar Point!

 

Now because I was here on Memorial Day and with only 5 hour to go before the park closed, I couldn't do it all. But what I decided was to do an "Intamin Run", anmd see if I could get all the Intmain coasters done before the park closed.

 

Now this would be very difficult for a number of reasons:

1) Maverick had only opened 2 days ago, so lines for that wouldn't be short. 2) At least one of the rides would break down at some point while I was there. 3) I would have to go from the very front of the park to the back, so a lot of walking would have to be done.

 

But I took up the challenge, and all I had to do was decide which one do I do first...

And if you haven't guessed it by now, this really is about as big a clue as you will get.

If you hadn't guessed by now, you should surely know where I'm heading for a few hours.

If there's one thing I really hate about driving on the Interstate, it's those people who just sit in the middle lane at the same speed for mile after mile. But never mind, if I can get past them, they don't bother me. Rant over.

You really wouldn't mess with these guys.

Welcome to Ohio! Birthplace of aviation and home of the worst fanboys in the world.

[Homer]

home of the worst fanboys in the world.

I thought that was Thorpe Park fanboys.

 

Glad you had a semi-decent Intamin run. Maverick is still a CP fanboys wet dream come true, hopefully you'll come back soon and do the Arrow coasters.

 

Can't wait for the happy fun time with Ian in Chicago! Great TR's so far.

[307]

Oh boy! I can't believe there's so much more to come! I'm a Tom fanboy!

[Divv3k]

Awesome Tom, it's great to see some shots of a park I'll be visiting in a few weeks!

 

The Intamin run sounds like a good challenge, maybe I'll try doing the same when I'm there and see how long it takes me.

[BrownStreak]

"Welcome to Ohio! Birthplace of aviation and home of the worst fanboys in the world."

 

Even with the fact that I am currently living in Ohio I definately agree with you there! NOTE: I am living here, I am not from here, nor do I really feel at "home" here...wait that must be it...because I don't love CP with all my heart I will never truly be a true Ohioan! So I guess I'll just be an outsider throughout the rest of my days here who would rather drive to Kennywood or Indiana Beach than visit CP anytime after July 1st.

[bgwfreak]

"Welcome to Ohio! Birthplace of aviation and home of the worst fanboys in the world."

 

Amen to that.

[TheGreatOne]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Millennium Force is overrated. People around here look at me like I'm nuts when I say that. I get the same look when I tell people the Beast isn't even close to being the best woodie out there today.

 

So yes, we do have the worst fanboys in the world.

[BrownStreak]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks Millennium Force is overrated. People around here look at me like I'm nuts when I say that. I get the same look when I tell people the Beast isn't even close to being the best woodie out there today.

 

So yes, we do have the worst fanboys in the world.

 

I can't even comment on MF- I've only been to CP twice since it opened and it was closed both times.

 

^^That quote was taken out of a trip report update above- I didn't know how to pull the quote without pulling all of the pictures too.

[bgwfreak]

^ Yeah I saw that...but I agree with it too.

 

Millie is still my #3 steel coaster, but yeah the CP fanboys make it out to be the best all the time when it's obvious there are better coasters out there.

 

And dont' even get me started on all the fanboys saying Maverick is the best coaster out there...it's not. Not even a Top 10 ride for me.

[Swoosh]

And dont' even get me started on all the fanboys saying Maverick is the best coaster out there...it's not. Not even a Top 10 ride for me.

 

AMEN!

[Real]

And dont' even get me started on all the fanboys saying Maverick is the best coaster out there...it's not. Not even a Top 10 ride for me.

 

AMEN!

 

Well that would mean MF is probably lower than that. Theres no way MF is better than Mav. MF is 50 seconds of boring airtimlessness.

[Swoosh]

^To each his own, on their personal preferences. I like Millie because you can just have fun on it. No need to brace, just extreme speed and a great first drop. It's my favorite steel because you just feel "free" on it. Like I said though, each person has their own "things" that they look for when picking favorites -- for me, I prefer "effortless riding" coasters where I don't have to worry about bracing to keep myself from getting hurt.

[Shockwave]

OK, I once again apologise for the lack of updates. Believe this report would get done a lot quicker if we didn't have all this flooding!

 

Part 6 - Valleyfair and (The Park at) Mall of America...guess which one we preferred.

 

So now I had picked up Ian from O'Hare, and we were on our way through Wisconsin towards the Twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul for our hotel that night. The drive only took about 6 hours, not bad considering how far we had come. But we were both quite tired, so we hit the hay and woke up bright and early for the first park of "our" trip.

 

Valleyfair looks quite good on paper. A good variety of rides, and a well-recieved new GCI wooden coaster. And true to the good reviews we'd already heard, Renegade didn't fail to deliver. It was a really good ride, and it's a shame we didn't get a ride right at the end of the day.

 

But the rest of the park wasn't really so special. The Morgan Hyper is rather dull. A couple of spots of mild floater airtime at a push, and then it's those long boring curves to keep you all entertained. Not even the bunny hills had airtime!

 

The big Arrow Mine Train had no queue, but we quickly found out why. In fact talking of floods, I hope the next one can put this ride out of its misery. The Arrow Wild Mouse is a bit of a misnomer - not quite as mad is the name suggests. The Corkscrew does everything a twenty-something Arrow should do, which if you know anything about them isn't pleasant. And the S&S "Flat" rides are just that. The "old" woodie isn't bad, but it's not particularly special either. And the less said about the nutbusting Intamin...well I'll come to that later.

 

And the worst thing? It's not the horrible paths wich require full shades to stop the glare. It's not the ridiculous price of crap sodas (well, Pepsi. I don't mind Mountain Dew). And it's not even the over-zealous park rules, which prohibit you taking a camera onto a Ferris wheel because it's a "drop hazard".

 

There's what I'd call a bad case of C.F.S. (Cedar Fair Syndrome). It's a mediocre park, and that can be worse than something which is truly terrible. For instance, take Coney Beach. Perhaps not the safest, cleanest and (despite what Elissa might tell you) most beautiful park in the world. But at least it's got some character. Valleyfair can't even muster that. Don't get me wrong, I've been to much worse parks, but those are still parks you don't ever forget. And if it wasn't for Renegade, I'd forget this one quite quickly.

 

By contrast, the Mall of America was a hoot! The Ripsaw and Timberland Twister were great fun, and the Lil' Shaver was probably the smallest pseudo-credit we've ever been on. It's free to park at, unpretentious and there's always shops to go to. And because most people at the Mall are mainly there for the shops, queues are never ridiculously long.

 

So a good day all in all. Valleyfair fell a bit short of what I was expecting, but Mall of America was much better than I thought it would be. And hopefully the next update won't be interupted by flooding!

 

Valleyfair first...

And I leave you with a picture of that Ferris Wheel. Time to go I think.

Even though I'd probably like to.

And we couldn't forget this credit.

Log flume. Ever seen one of these before?

The like of which won't be happening anytime soon. Still, good ride, if a bit short.

I want like this much airtime and I want the ride to last like 5 minutes long!

And these rides are breeding like rabbits!

Power Tower was your typical S&S shot/drop, about 240ft up.

And here's another one of those rides which can bust you balls good!

If this train could talk right now, if would say "Bollocks!" You can figure the rest out...

Until you get to here on the second run backwards.

In fairness, Steel Venom is pretty good overall.

Speaking of being one step away from greatness...

I get the impression it would be really awesome if were only about 30ft taller. Or the airtime hills were 30ft shorter.

Not too bad from here either!

Looks pretty sweet...

Even thoguht we couldn't ride Mild Thing, who cares? We got Wild Thing!

You'd never guess, but this is what you see just before getting on.

It looks a lot older than it really is.

High Roller wasn't a bad ride.

You've got to be real lucky to get this credit.

Denied. Oh well, it's probably only the second best coaster in the park!

And in case you didn't, here's a clue. Mad Mouse...THROUGH THE MIDDLE!

Mad Mouse...well you all know how this caption ends!

Next stop, the low capacity Wild Mouse needed crossing off the list before everybody else saw it.

Yeah, I'd be bored if I had to watch a load of boats for 10 hours too.

Yeah, that looks pretty wet. We wisely avoided it.

Apparently you get wet.

By this point, we'd had enough.

Arrow really should have kept all their mine trains below 3ft tall.

What will follow are some toekn photos for a token coaster. Token captions come at no extra charge.

Shame that the other rides can't live upto Renegade. Here's a prime example.

Smiles all round from the first few trains!

DAAAAAAAAAAAAMN! The train never lets up until the brakes at the end.

Hands up all the way round!

One the few shots you can get from the ground. Most of the ride is hidden away. Great idea having a s-turn first drop, but would even better if people could actually see it!

First stop of the day! Renegade was a pretty good ride, even at the start of the day.

But the short bus signalled the arrival of the school kids. And unpolitically correct humour was to be had.

Well it would be if there anyone to actually enter it!

And this would be a park entrance, no?

This is the first thing you see when you get into the park. Looks impressive at first sight.

We quickly figured out the cruise control.

..and this douche.

Welcome to the rest of the trip report. Your hosts are Ian...

[dandaman]

 

...Is that lawn the landing ground for the Morgan wheels? (Couldn't help it.)

[Homer]

From your TR, Tom, it seems like Valleyfair! needs to be named "The Ben Stein of amusement parks."

[mcjaco]

Oh man, now I'm not so excited about going to Valleyfair.

 

Can't wait for the next update......I wonder why........hmmmmm.

[Airtime&Gravity]

I may be the only one who says it, but while not great, Valleyfair looks like a decent park, and since it is the only major park in the area, it features a good amount of attractions. While most of the coasters don't look great, they do look like a lot of fun, and while it has the trademark Cedar Fair theming, it doesn't look as bad as Darien Paved Lake.

[Scaparri]

Wow, I don't think anybody could have summed that park up better. Seriously, I think it would be better if they took out Wild Thing and Excalibur. Wild Thing is easily the most "meh" ride I've been on, kind of like the park itself. As you said, it's nice, but not very memorable. MOA is awesome though! I can't wait for the upgrades!

 

I see nobody told you how to properly ride an Impulse coaster before doing so. They really are awesome once you learn the defense. Oh well. Cheers to sterility!

[Swoosh]

While Valleyfair is not THE BEST park in the world, you have to give it some credit -- you can have a lot of fun there IF YOU LET YOURSELF. If you go in with the thought "oh this is gonna suck" then of course you will have a bad day.

 

With that being said, I would rather go to VF then say KD or MiA anyday. It is a long way from being the WORST park in the Cedar Fair chain -- but I agree it is no Worlds of Fun

[Shockwave]

Sterile is perhaps another word to sum the park up.

 

Just to re-iterate, Valleyfair wasn't a bad park, it wasn't a good park. It was an average park, may even a bit bland (even Renegade is the standout attraction that makes no big effort to stand out, the main part of the ride cowers away from the midway).

 

It's just got no soul, no heart, no real desire to stand out from the crowd. Like Michigan's Adventure, it commits the crime of mediocrity. The park just didn't put a smile on my face.

 

The Mall however...

Next stop, the Wisconsin Dells!

I'm calm, I'm calm!

This is what you call "middle of the road-rage".

And much messing around was documented on camera.

We each took turns to drive.

The Mall was fun, but we had to move on.

And this is the most evil looking ride I've seen in a long time. After watching one cycle, we wisely gave it a miss this.

Here's the Ripsaw coaster, which circles right around the park.

But Ian loves it anyways!

It only just gets counted as a powered coaster - it probably gets upto about 6ft tall!

Back to the credits now, or "pseudo-credits"; because this one is powered.

They even put a full size Falling Star inside here.

Here's a view over the middle of the park. The roof is quite high up!

OK, a mystery prize goes to the person who can tell me what the Hell this thing is!

OK, I can't rap so I'll just say it was a pretty good family ride. More places would do well to have these.

Yo' spinning ain't Dragon's Fury no, and a shame sbout that sign from Pepsi Co!

It's Timbaland Twister! I ain't got a Maurer Sohne but we can have some fun...

This place was a right giggle! It really does make you laugh.

[BrownStreak]

Ah Camp Snoopy...err...the Park at MOA...err...Nick Universe...whatever! I worked there back in 1996 and my favorite rides to operate were the Lil'Shaver (except for the slow days when one op was assigned to both it and the Kiddie Bumper Cars) and the TTT. What is the TTT, you may ask? The Tree Top Tumbler- my all time favorite "flat-ride" of all time! I think the one there may be the only one in the US and there are not many anywhere else either!

 

So the short answer to your question is that the picture below is the Tree Top Tumbler- in my world the best flat ride on earth! If you missed it you totally missed out on a unique experience!

[speedracer]

Been thoroughly enjoying the updates, thanks for taking us along!

 

And I'll second the Zierer Witch's Dance being one of the best flats ever made:

 

http://www.flatrides.com/Ride%20Index%20Pages/hexentanz.html